The Impact of Performance Feedback on Counseling Self‐Efficacy and Counselor Anxiety

Based on the Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training (L. M. Larson, 1998), this study explored the effects of bogus performance feedback on counseling self‐efficacy and counselor anxiety. After a 10‐minute mock counseling session, 45 master's‐level trainees received either positive or negative bogus feedback regarding their performance. Results showed that (a) participants altered their counseling self‐efficacy depending on the performance feedback they received, and (b) participants reported changes in anxiety following performance feedback.     

Pedagogic Practices,Tacit Knowledge and Discursive Discrimination: Bernstein and post-Vygotskian research

This article is concerned with the transmission of selected criteria of communicative competence in schools. It is argued that different contexts generate different criteria of competence. The study refers to the account of the social formation of mind developed by and after L. S. Vygotsky and also the model of cultural transmission developed by B. Bernstein. The study draws on these approaches in order to examine the relationship between individual competences and social structure of schools. The focus is on the implications of the organisational structure of the school for pupil talk in specified subjects. The experimental evidence is suggestive of the role of social organisation in schooling.     

Opening Windows, Closing Doors: Ethical Dilemmas in Educational Action Research

The chapter records personal accounts of the author's dealings with dilemmas encountered in the research methods literature and in the field of practice, as an action researcher and teacher educator. It draws on Mary Chamberlain's Fenwomen to illustrate some of the dangers of ethnographic research. Using data from two instances, one in a pre-service initial teacher-training programme and the other in teacher induction, the author draws out the tensions between the 'need to know' in order to act professionally, and the 'need to protect' in order to do the same.     

FORESTER,a Simulation Game for Teaching Survey Sampling

At the First International Conference on Teaching Statistics (Grey et al. 1983), several papers dealth with simulation games, either with or without a computer to assist in the teaching of a variety of statistical concepts (Mead 1983, Elliott 1983, Bright et al. 1983a, b, Joiner 1983, Singh 1983). One area not covered was survey sampling which is the subject of this article.     

Desperately seeking data: methodological complications in researching 'hard to find' young people

This paper explores challenges arising from research (Daniels & Macnab, 2004), which sought to identify young people aged 14–16 years who were emotionally vulnerable and not in receipt of educational provision within two local UK authorities. Two particular challenges are identified in this research. The first was the challenge of defining the term used to identify the young people. Second, the research faced an almost insurmountable challenge in finding and obtaining data on a sample for which the outcomes of the research may pose a threat to those holding the data. Discussion focuses upon possible ways in which research can address these issues.     

Humanisation in Russian Education: a transition between state determinism and individualism

This article is concerned with the development of humanisation in contemporary Russian education where it is regarded as a key factor influencing social change in the country. The authors draw on the proceedings of a seminar held in Moscow in 1994 concerned with the future of Russian education. Through an analysis of past Russian educational development and related psychological theory an argument is developed which suggests that present trends owe more than may be expected to the past. The concept of mediation is a central concern of the authors. They argue that the present discussion in Russia is overly individualistic and takes no account of processes of mediation in pedagogic formulations which render them incomplete and vulnerable to exploitation.     

Learning to teach,learning to act: becoming a critical literacy teacher

Critical literacy requires an exploration of privilege and social justice. This includes an exploration of power and action in one’s “inner” and “outer” lives. This qualitative case study illustrates the ways in which Jonah, a preservice teacher, navigates social practices and actions in his roles as a student, activist, and literacy teacher. Through critical discourse analysis, we conceptualize social action in relation to critical literacy teaching, using a framework of discourses of, discourses as, and discourses in action to construct a nuanced understanding of social action in relation to critical literacy. Given the demands of a standardized curriculum on teachers’ autonomy, this is an important illustration of how social action can be enacted and embodied through the act of teaching.     

Students with LD at Postsecondary: Supporting Success and the Role of Student Characteristics and Integration

Students with learning disabilities (LD) are attending postsecondary education more than ever, but are also less likely to complete their education compared to non-LD peers. Using the Inputs–Environment–Outcomes model of Astin, we examined students with LD and non-LD peers during their first year of postsecondary studies. Using structural equation modeling, we found that for all students, perceived academic ability had a positive direct effect on outcomes, whereas drive to achieve had only an indirect effect. Academic integration was important for grade point average and satisfaction. Social integration was important for the acquisition of knowledge and skills and satisfaction, and these connections were stronger for students with LD. Our discussion highlights potential supports for students with LD.     

Is the relationship between competence beliefs and test anxiety influenced by goal orientation?

The study described here aimed to examine the relations between test anxiety, competence beliefs and achievement goals, and in particular if the relations between competence beliefs and test anxiety were moderated by achievement goals. Pupils in their first year of secondary schooling completed self-report questionnaires for test anxiety, competence beliefs and achievement goals. Results indicated that pupils with low competence beliefs in Mathematics reported more worrisome thoughts when they held a mastery-avoidance goal and female pupils with low verbal competence beliefs reported more off-task behaviours when they held a performance-approach goal. Male pupils with low verbal competence beliefs reported fewer off-task behaviours when they held a performance-approach goal. These findings may reflect how Mathematics may be uniquely related to a fear of failure among school subjects and how the gendered nature of verbal self-concept becomes important when peer comparison is a salient goal for pupils.